What a week! The European SharePoint Conference (ESPC) in Amsterdam got my mind going again. A multitude of impressions are swirling around in my head, articles I still want to read, and questions such as: 'Are we doing more with less or less with more?', 'What structure and resources does a company need to make the most of the Power Platform?' or 'When and how will the Copilot become an integral part of our everyday work, and what steps should we take today to be optimally prepared for this?'.

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In this blog post, I would like to give you an insight into the most predominant thoughts that I took away from the ESPC and that are currently buzzing around in my head, hoping they will resonate with you and make you think - just as Tracy van der Schyff's session made me think. She has once again underlined the necessity of user adoption with impressive metaphors and vivid examples. And let's face it - in practice/in every customer and project situation, an enormous amount of persuasion is still required to convince management and decision-makers of the need for customized training measures when introducing new tools. But did you know that metaphorically speaking, without user adoption, 20% of your pizza is stolen every day!? 🍕

As a change and adoption consultant, I'm no stranger to this topic, but she hit the nail on the head and presented her arguments so conclusively and impressively that I could not imagine any contradiction - from anyone. How is it possible that companies still put off user adoption measures and believe that the magic will come by itself?

Inspired by the insights of Tracy's talk, I would like to share some of them and contribute further thoughts.

First, let's look at why the magic doesn't just happen with the technical launch of a new digital product and what it takes to make it happen.

Secondly, how much time and money are wasted without user adoption?

Thirdly, how can we measure and track our progress as part of a holistic user adoption strategy?

Why doesn’t the magic just happen with the technical launch of a new digital product and what does it require?

There is no doubt that Microsoft offers a comprehensive range of solutions to help businesses move forward. But the following question arises: To what extent do we really use the potential (or do we push a sports car in front of us in high heels)?

Imagine you’ve just bought a state-of-the-art washing machine. It’s sleek, modern, and comes with all sorts of fancy features. You can even control it remotely using your smartphone. But here’s the catch: you’re not quite sure how to use all those bells and whistles. The instruction manual is a thick booklet filled with tiny lettering, and honestly, who has time for that? So, you stick to the basics. You load your laundry, press the regular button, and hope for the best. Sure, the new machine looks impressive, but it doesn’t seem to save you much more time than your old one. And worst of all, your clothes still come out wrinkled, just like before.

If we adopt Microsoft 365 without properly addressing users' needs and use cases, it will only result in impressive digital products that are not being used effectively. The question is: "Do more with less" or "Do less with more"?

Let's take a look at the summary of points mentioned by Tracy to illustrate what to bear in mind when introducing a new technology:

Human-centred: Communicate and understand problems in order to use technical tools efficiently and make everyday work easier and save time. ⏲️

Problems at higher costs: If we think we can only solve problems with new great products, we have the same problems, only at higher (licensing) costs. 🫰

It's all about the money: Show the management how much money they would waste in the long run without user adoption measures. 💸

Leading by example: Management and executives as role models! 🦸

Compulsory and consistent training: The training of the end users should not be neglected. It must be mandatory and regular for users to master and use the tools. 🧑‍🏫

Defining goals, document and track progress: To measure success and progress, it is important to set goals and KPIs. Usage of the tools is not synonymous with adoption. 📈

The Vision: User adoption is also a cultural challenge. We need to integrate it into the company's vision and mission and get users on board with the change. 💫

Sometimes the aspect "It's all about money" is not so easy to reproduce clearly as there are a lot of parameters. I would therefore like to discuss this in the next section. Keep reading 👀

How much time and money are we wasting without collaboration via Teams & Co?

What Tracy brought to my attention is the blog article "Quantifying the value of collaboration with Microsoft Teams" – so let’s have a look at Microsoft Teams here. Based on a study by Forrester, the article lists the key benefits of Teams and how much time and therefore money a successful introduction and use can save.

Let’s wrap it up and do the math🔢! Imagine you work in a company with 1,000 employees. As the Forrester study reports, information workers save 4 hours per week through improved collaboration and information sharing. This involves the use of functions such as co-authoring and integrated file storage. Regardless of the other areas where Teams can have an impact and save time*, let's assume we work in the service sector and 75% of your employees are information workers.

First, the number I am interested in at this point is how much time is wasted without Teams and the effective collaboration and information sharing and which projects or other tasks could be completed in this time?

Let's assume 48 working weeks per year and 40 working hours per week and summarize this:

Saved time in one year = 750 employees/information workers * 4 hours/week * 48 weeks

Saved time in one year = 144.000 hours (18.000 Tage)

Saved time in one year per employee = 192 hours (24 Tage)

Your turn: How big is your company and how many employees are information workers? How much time could be used for other projects that generate money for the company? Try to put a price tag on it! Think long-term, too! 🏷️

Second, how can it be that companies are willing to pay expensive license costs, but then think they can save on user adoption measures, and everything will run like clockwork?

As Microsoft Teams cannot be licensed individually, we assume in a further simplified calculation, that we have 1,000 employees who we equip with an E3 license in this example. With license costs of €35.70 per user each month, the costs for the company already reach €35,700. If we calculate the costs per year, we end up with 428,400€.

Not a cheap tool! And in most cases, not even a fraction is spent on user training. The licensing costs are accepted without the hoped-for added value being achieved. On the contrary, users only have more great tools and features to deal with on their own.

Tracy demonstrated a comparison in her session that fits like a glove: Challenges that organizations had to overcome before the introduction of Teams, such as operational inefficiency or difficulty collaboration, remain unchanged after the implementation of Teams. The thing is:

„Products don’t fix people - People fix problems with products!“

— Tracy van der Schyff

The conclusion is that we need to be prepared to invest in user adoption measures in order to be successful in the long term and not waste time and money. It's the user adoption initiatives and training, talking to employees, helping them find solutions and ideas and mapping those ideas and technical innovations that will save the 4 hours (or even more) mentioned. It's not just about the rollout!

& how can we track user adoption to be sure we are on the right track to increase productivity?

In a previous blog post Datengetriebenes Change Management? Analyse von Nutzungszahlen und deren Aussagekraft bei der Erfolgsmessung der Digitalisierung und User Adoption and a session in the Adoption and Change Forum, we already looked at the question of measurability and possible KPIs available in Microsoft 365 as part of a holistic strategy. In addition, I would like to shed some light on the difference between usage and adoption KPIs. Let’s have a look at which KPIs we can use to align our measures and work on improved collaboration and information distribution in order to achieve the previously mentioned 4 hours of time savings.

Usage ≠ Adoption

Usage merely indicates that a tool that has been provided is used by the users. However, it remains open and questionable how it is used. Users see new features but don't know what they can do with them. The fact that a tool that the user needs to complete tasks is used is no indication of whether it is used efficiently.

The Adoption Score provides us with information about how users use a tool, i.e. which features they use and which they do not. In other words, you know where support is still needed to increase efficient use. My favorite example is the following:

This is the representation of how, for example, the extremely helpful and time-saving real-time collaboration is used.

Conclusion

Only by implementing a user adoption approach can we live up to Microsoft's motto and truly "do more with less". If we only offer more tools, but no support and no user adoption initiatives, we achieve less with more of the nice and shiny tools.

It starts with realizing the relevance of a holistically planned user adoption strategy. Use figures to show the time and money wasted. Create a target image: Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve? Think about what specific measures you can take to achieve this goal. Document it and define KPIs to measure your progress and adjust measures along the way if necessary.

An important thought for me is to always keep an eye on the users and their use cases. Talk to them and make sure that the tools improve users' everyday lives and solve their problems. Even with enthusiasm for new products, it's crucial to only introduce them when they offer real value to users.

*If you want to see accurate calculations for several time and money savings, take a look at the mentioned and linked study by Forrester: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/Total-Economic-Impact-Microsoft-Teams.pdf